This section is intended to provide a background or context. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Semiconductors and integrated circuit chips have become ubiquitous within many products due to their continually decreasing cost and size. In the microelectronics industry as well as in other industries involving construction of microscopic structures (such as micromachines, magnetoresistive heads, etc.) there is a continued desire to reduce the size of structural features and microelectronic devices and/or to provide a greater amount of circuitry for a given chip size. Miniaturization, in general, allows for increased performance (such as more processing per clock cycle and less heat generated for example) at lower power levels and lower cost. Current technology is at or approaching atomic level scaling of certain micro-devices such as logic gates, FETs and capacitors. Circuit chips with hundreds of millions of such devices are not uncommon. Further size reductions appear to be approaching the physical limit of trace lines and micro-devices that are embedded upon and within their semiconductor substrates.